Jean Gordon Papers (PP)

The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. © 2005

This finding aid was produced in English.

Finding aid produced using NoteTab Pro

Biography of Jean Gordon

Jean Gordon, author and rose historian, founded the Rose Museum in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1956 and operated it from her home until 1966. The rose is believed to be the oldest of flowers, hence she chose St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city, for the site of her museum. Born in Kingston, New York on August 27, 1903, she spent her youth in New York City, and was attracted to the stage, attending Henderson's School of Oratory and Damrosch School of Music. Discouraged by her parents from pursuing a stage career, she studied journalism at Columbia University and later earned her living writing for the Children's Page of the Christian Science Monitor, a variety of other magazines, radio, and advertising. She married John Adams Wickham in 1923 and had four children (Joan, Nancy, John Adams, and Joyce.) After a second marriage and widowhood, and the influence of Ernest Holmes' Science of Mind, she began to write about roses and to collect a vast array of memorabilia with rose motifs. Museums throughout the country displayed her collection, culminating with the establishment of the House of Roses, in 1955.

Gordon wrote numerous books, including Pageant of the Rose (1953, rev. 1961), Immortal Roses (1959), The Art of Cooking with Roses (1968), Rose recipes: customs, facts, fancies, Coffee recipes: customs, fancies, and Orange recipes: customs, facts, fancies.

Scope and Content

The collection of Gordon's personal papers includes Gordon's background notes and clippings for her publications, catalogs, booklets, publicity, and book reviews, as well as posters, bibliographic index cards, and photographs. The entire collection relates to her interest in roses with correspondence scattered among these papers.

The many artifacts that Gordon collected and a part of her book collection are on permanent loan (2003) to the recently-reestablished Rose Museum in St. Augustine.

Restrictions

Access restrictions

This collection is open for research with permission from Mertz Library staff.

Copyright

Requests for permission to publish material from the collection should be submitted in writing to the LuEsther T. Mertz Library of the New York Botanical Garden.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Jean Gordon (PP), Archives, The New York Botanical Garden.

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated to the library.

Processing Information

Processed May 2005 by Kathleene Konkle under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) PA-50678-04.

Container List